ICICI Bank 2009 Annual Report Download - page 36

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Business Overview
Project Finance
Given the rapid growth of the Indian economy, infrastructure development and investment across sectors is
critical for sustaining economic growth by addressing supply bottlenecks.
The power sector is expected to witness large investments involving significant capacity additions over the next
few years primarily driven by increased private sector participation. Increasing interest is being expressed in
renewable sources of energy such as wind power and solar power. The commencement of production of natural
gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin is expected to benefit the fertiliser and petrochemical sectors, besides power
plants. The oil and gas sector is also expected to witness significant activity across the entire value chain.
The telecom sector is expected to continue its accelerated growth due to large investments in rollout of new
networks with increased focus on tier-2 and rural markets and the impending 3G licence auctions. This will be
augmented by increased sharing of passive elements like towers, enabling faster rollout of networks providing
impetus to the growth of passive infrastructure segments.
The transportation sector has also been witnessing renewed momentum in the form of new projects being bid out
for development of national highways (through National Highway Development Programme) and state highways.
These are also expected to create significant momentum for the construction industry. The port sector is witnessing
creation of new capacities both in the bulk and container cargo segments and increased participation of the private
sector. The railway sector is also expected to witness investments in modernisation of railway stations, logistics
and dedicated freight corridors.
The mining industry in India is gearing up for increase in production and exploration to meet the growing demand.
Recent initiatives by the Government like the Natural Mineral Policy 2008 are expected to create opportunities for
investments across the mining value chain by private sector participants.
The key to our project finance proposition is our constant endeavour to add value to projects through financial
structuring to ensure bankability. These services are backed by sectoral expertise and sound due diligence
techniques.
International Banking
Our international strategy is focused on building a retail deposit franchise, meeting the foreign currency needs
of our Indian corporate clients and achieving the status of the preferred NRI community bank in key markets. We
also seek to build stable wholesale funding sources and strong syndication capabilities to support our corporate
and investment banking business, and to expand private banking operations for India-centric asset classes. ICICI
Bank currently has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Russia and Canada, branches in Singapore, Bahrain,
Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Dubai International Finance Centre, Qatar Financial Centre and the United States and
representative offices in the United Arab Emirates, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and
Indonesia. The Bank’s wholly owned subsidiary ICICI Bank UK PLC has eleven branches in the United Kingdom
and a branch each in Belgium and Germany. ICICI Bank Canada has ten branches. ICICI Bank Eurasia Limited
Liability Company has two branches.
During fiscal 2009, we focused on meeting the foreign currency needs of Indian corporates for their overseas
and domestic expansion. At the same we also successfully syndicated our client exposures to other financial
intermediaries looking to invest in Indian corporates. We continued to successfully leverage our technology
enabled franchise to create a growing international deposit base. ICICI Bank Canada saw an increase of about
CAD 1.75 billion in term deposits during fiscal 2009 while its customer accounts increased from about 200,000 at
March 31, 2008 to over 280,000 at March 31, 2009. ICICI Bank UK saw an increase of about US$ 1.80 billion in retail
term deposits during fiscal 2009 due to which the proportion of retail term deposits in total deposits increased
from 16% at March 31, 2008 to 58% at March 31, 2009. ICICI Bank UK’s customer base increased from about
210,000 at March 31, 2008 to over 310,000 customers at March 31, 2009. Total advances of our international
banking subsidiaries at March 31, 2009 were US$ 7.66 billion. During fiscal 2009, we continued to maintain healthy
liquidity at our overseas banking subsidiaries.
With the growth in our domestic branch network, our franchise among NRIs has grown significantly over the
last few years. A well-rounded offering with a comprehensive India-linked product suite, convenient technology-
enabled access, and efficient customer service has enabled us to establish a well-recognised financial services
brand for NRIs. In fiscal 2009 we further consolidated our customer relationship management and launched
new products to give superior experience to our customers. We launched the “NRI Edge” - a privilege offering
for affluent NRIs, along with the Global Indian Account and an innovative Call-and-Remit offering. Our customer
base stands at over 500,000 NRIs and we continue to maintain a market share of 25% in the inward remittances
business. In fiscal 2009 we also consolidated our private banking business across India and international markets
and launched the ICICI Group Global Private Clients offering. This offering for high net worth individuals, now
spans over 20,000 clients globally.